South Brooklyn Legal Services has filed a lawsuit over the city’s plans to seize seven Downtown Brooklyn homes via eminent domain in order to build a parking facility for a hotel. Most historians agree that the homes were part of the Underground Railroad, and the lawsuit alleges that the city violated its own laws by not thoroughly examining the houses’ historical significance. “There is no debate at this point that prominent abolitionists lived at 227 Duffield Street,” said Jennifer Levy, a lawyer with South Brooklyn Legal Services, which filed the suit. “But the city didn’t include that fact in its final environmental impact report. I guess they missed it.” more [AMNY]
Suit over Underground Railroad homes
June 18, 2007 12:00AM
